We project online retail sales to reach $44.7 billion during November and December, a year-over-year increase of 8% -- evidence of the online space’s proven status as the retail industry’s growth engine. We expect this growth to be driven by the increasing number of online holiday buyers and by the large retailers gaining market share from their smaller counterparts.

The Index of Consumer Sentiment, as well as our own pre-holiday survey show that consumers will be shopping, but will also hold a tight grip on their purse strings. For example, 39% of online consumers plan to wait before making a purchase to see if the items they want will go on sale and 24% of online holiday buyers intend to try lower-cost alternatives to the brands they typically purchase.

The current economic environment makes this holiday season especially unique. Unlike previous holiday seasons, online retailers will manage to the bottom line, rather than chase sales. To this end, they plan to implement tactics like keeping leaner inventories, increasing customer engagement, or enhancing their online merchandising and social shopping tools.

Look to Forrester to provide you with updates and further consumer data as we roll into the holiday season. Happy selling!

Comments

PBBI recently looked at how this year's holiday shopping trends affect technology decisions for retailers and e-tailers, and one of the points they raised was the increased importance of fleet and logistics management, geo-demographics and location intelligence. Net/net -- knowing where to place your distribution centers and what stores to close are more important than before. Do you see any other technology trends related to the growth in online shopping?